iFi Audio Hip DAC 2 Headphone Amplifier

iFi Audio Hip DAC 2 is a portable, hi-res DAC/headphone amplifier. It replaces the inferior DAC and amp circuitry in smartphones, tablets, Macs and PCs and vastly improves headphone sound. Whether you are listening on your daily commute, in your favorite coffee shop or at work, iFi Audio Hip Dac 2 will enhance your Hifi experience.

Burr-Brown DAC

The Hip DAC 2 uses a Burr-Brown DAC chip which has been selected for its fluid, highly musical sound quality and True Native architecture. This chip has been combined together with iFi custom circuitry to enable the Hip DAC 2 to deliver excellent sound quality across a variety of audio formats including: bit-perfect PCM, native DSD and MQA.

The Hip DAC 2 also comes with an upgraded crystal clock which completely removes digital distortion using iFi’s GNT femto precision clocking system. This enhances the sound quality by maintaining the integrity of the digital signal until it is converted into analogue.

XMOS 16-Core Chip

iFi Audio Hip DAC 2 uses a XBOS 16-Core chip to process the audio data received by the USB input. The XMOX has low-latency and greatly enhanced processing power compared to other 8-core chips. The 16-core IC delivers a clock speed of 2000MIPS and a massive 512KB memory as well as a SuperSpeed USB as standard.
With the addition of the XBOS 16-core chip the Hip DAC 2 is now an MQA Decoder rather than only a renderer. This enables the Hip DAC 2 to deliver the sound of the original master recording as the MQA plays back audio files and streams.

Balanced Circuitry

The iFi Audio Hip DAC 2 amp circuitry is of balanced differential design. The circuitry components have been carefully selected for their performance, including a custom iFi OV op-amp, a precision low-noise power supply IC from Texas Instruments, a TDK C0G class 1 ceramic capacitor and a high-quality analogue volume pot. The Hip DAC 2 also ensures compatibility with a wide range of headphone and earphone types by delivering 400mW into a 32-ohm headphone load.

Tailoring your Experience

The Hip DAC 2’s amp stage features PowerMatch which means it has switchable gain. This matches the correct level of drive to the load presented by the headphone allowing you to tailor the Hip DAC to the headphones you are using.

The user can continue to tailor their experience with the Hip DAC 2 by using the XBass feature. XBass enhances low frequencies, giving the bass an extra kick, without degrading the midrange.

Get Connected

iFi Audio Hip DAC 2 comes with all the inputs you will need on the go. There are two USB ports, type A for audio data and USB-C for charging and two outputs are provided- a 3.5mm socket for headphones with a single ended cable and a Balanced 4.4mm output for those with balanced connectivity. In addition the 3.5 mm output comes with iFi’s proprietary S-Balanced circuitry which cuts crosstalk and distortion when used with regular, single-ended headphones.

Case and Cover

iFi Audio Hip DAC 2 has an extruded aluminium enclosure with a beautifully sunset orange anodised metallic finish, which makes the Hip DAC 2 sufficiently robust to be ported around. However, if you did wish to have any further protection iFi Audio has made a faux suede Dove Grey case, which adds a softer feel to this hip-case.